every week, the saturday political club helps to understand the processes taking place in ukraine and the world. vitaly portnikov, khrystyna yatskiv, andriy smoliy and invited experts based on facts give their assessment and forecast of the development of events. if you want to understand how our today will affect our tomorrow, watch the saturday politics club, every saturday on espresso. it's 2 p.m. in ukraine, news time on the espresso tv channel, in the studio of iryna koval, greetings to all viewers, and now to the most important events. a 72-year-old man for... died due to

russian shelling of bogodukhov in kharkiv oblast, eight more people were injured, including a pregnant girl and a 15-year-old boy. three victims were hospitalized with moderate injuries, the regional prosecutor's office reported. in the morning , the enemy attacked two infrastructural facilities of the city with tornado-s rocket launchers. there is also a hit near the bus stop. private houses, farm buildings and cars were damaged. three people who were injured as a result of the russian attack on august 26 in the poltava region died in the hospital. this was announced by the head of the regional military administration philip pronin. doctors continue to fight for the lives of two more people. yesterday, the occupiers targeted an industrial facility in poltava oblast, and debris from a drone damaged a private house in the lubensky district. a woman was injured there. the russians struck from a drone. on a civilian car

in the dnipro district of kherson. a 62-year-old man received an explosive injury in multiple shrapnel wounds to his arm and leg, the regional military administration reported. the man is in the hospital. terror against civilians. for the third time in a week, the russians fired at them phoenix evacuation group in donetsk region. the enemy hit the car of the rescuers with a drone when they were on their way to the city of hrovsky district of ukraine, the ministry of internal affairs of ukraine reported. an armored vehicle was damaged due to an enemy attack. two rescuers and policemen who were in the car were not injured. the century-old church of the nativity of the most holy theotokos became involved because of yesterday's attack by the russians on the village of novoekonomichnye in donetsk region. rescuers tried to put out the fire, but were forced to suspend work due to repeated shelling. firefighters only in the morning were able to eliminate the fire, the state service said. ordinary situations. this is

the second time the enemy has attacked the temple. in august , the walls, ceiling and viftar were destroyed in the church due to shelling from the tornado volley fire system. the settlement of novoeconomichne is 5 km from the contact line. the russians are constantly poking at him. about 136,000 cases of war crimes were registered in ukraine. law enforcement officers managed to identify 660 suspects, and 100. 26 people are already serving their sentences, prosecutor general andriy kostin said. according to him, the number of war crimes is not complete, because ukraine does not control the temporarily occupied territories. the prosecutor general noted that 27 countries have started their own investigations or collection of evidence of crimes committed during the russian aggression. i can't say it officially now, but it is one of the countries of the global south. should also open

criminal proceedings regarding crimes committed by russia in ukraine in the near future, and this will also be a powerful signal to the aggressor country that our entire network of comprehensive responsibility is not only about all types of war crimes, it is not only about all cases of war crimes, but also about world geography, so that russian war criminals understand that there will be no place where they can hide from justice. about 30,000 military... employees have already been transferred to the kurdish direction. according to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of ukraine oleksandr syrsky, the kurdish operation distracted the russian army from other areas of the front. however, the difficult situation remains in the pokrovsky direction, where the russians are only increasing their efforts. as of today, we we continue to move forward, to give the russian troops tangible. in the live force

of equipment, today we have taken control of 1,294 km of territory, 100 of them points that are located in this territory, also, thanks to the successful actions of our troops, we have replenished, significantly replenished, the exchange fund, for today at in this direction , 594 servicemen of the armed forces of the russian federation were captured. the spresso tv channel and the vesna charitable fund have opened a fundraiser for the purchase of modern drones and systems. radio electronic fighting for the third separate assault brigade of the 110th and 47th brigades of the armed forces of ukraine. the defenders in the donetsk direction every day hold back enemy attacks, defend our freedom and future. it was these soldiers who stood to the last and defended the avdiiv direction in the spring. the brigades urgently need

drones and modern means of countering enemy drones. our goal is uah 3.5 million. and thanks to you, we already have more than a million in our accounts. so join the gathering, you can see all the details on the screen now. and the forum continues with the participation of state leaders institutions, the topic of discussion is the war and ukraine's steps on the way to a just peace. currently, the press conference of president volodymyr zelenskyi has started there, so let's watch it live. for being with all of us. armed forces, with our civilians, with all people, and i would like to express my condolences to all those who died and to all, to all families, to all families of those who died, and i would like to wish

recovery to all those who are currently in hospitals, and i also wanted i would like to express my condolences to your colleagues from reuters. after the last one blow, i think that no one will be against it, this war took the lives of different people, different professions, but they all did everything so that ukraine would preserve its independence, i think it would be fair to start by honoring all the dead with a moment of silence, thank you.

yeah. thank you, dear colleagues, and indeed our condolences to the extended reuters family and to all newsrooms that have lost in this war, or had their colleagues taken away by russia in a full-scale invasion. well, we can start, and please, let's give the first question, tv channel we are ukraine, olena, sir president, congratulations, hundreds of missiles and... in these two days yesterday, we managed to destroy 124 missiles, we know that the objects of the energy infrastructure were quite badly damaged, in particular, the russians also aimed at the kyiv dam, we saw photos and videos that there is destruction there , so preparing

for this winter, how much of a challenge is it for us, what do we have to do to the government to the partners, and also know that you wanted to agree with the partners, at least try to ... diplomatically stop the strikes on energy facilities under the third point of the formula peace, we know that such a plan, the project was being prepared, you talked about it, so the result, if it does not succeed diplomatically, then what awaits us this winter with such strikes, thank you very much, thank you for the question, first of all there were 230 strikes, you see, our defense system worked, but not there are less serious ones... damage to our power system, professional people are fighting, our energy workers are fighting, i am very grateful to them and the people of today, you can see that even the anxiety does not end, they are already, already going, risking their lives, so that people

have light , i think that such people are our light, and i am really very grateful to them, as far as protection is concerned, protection is different, different. outside, we are dealing with it, the ministry of infrastructure is dealing with it, the ministry of defense is dealing with it, ukrainian energy is dealing with it, i don't know if you spoke with the prime minister in detail. about it, but nevertheless, it is clear what to do, we are doing it, now, unfortunately, the whole country does not have light yet, there should be, i think it will be, as for the details regarding the destruction of the hydroelectric plant or something else, well, to be honest, i'm generally not very good i love energy pr, i don't really like that i don't support, let's say, we have freedom. words, but i don't really support it when the enemy knows what specific damage he caused with his

energy strikes to ukraine, etc. there are details that should be known, the whole world should know, understanding what russia is doing here, on our land, and we are just such details and we are grateful to you and your colleagues for this, for the fact that you are saying this, but in what state some of our buildings are serious and what we are doing there now, let it be in silence. as for diplomatic decisions, steps, etc., i i believe that today we are consistent, no matter what, on russia's reluctance in principle to stop the war, and we can see it, it cannot be said that russia very much, as some fellow leaders say, really wants to directly stop the war, it's just necessary negotiate when they want, 230 blows are not inflicted and people and children are not killed. therefore their desire, it is clear to us, in its absence, to us, she

understood, but we are consistent, as i said, we had an immigration peace summit, after which we said that we will prepare a document that of energy and according to the main three conclusions that were set by the first inaugural summit , there will be meetings, offline, online, for today it is not important, it is for... also from colleagues, you know, as i said recently, it is absolutely fair, we have there are no vacations during the war, but not all colleagues are partners, not everyone is at war, that is why the meeting was held, but online, the energy issue was raised, and the document is being prepared, detailed, it will be, all positions at this meeting with our colleagues have been agreed, the second meeting by sea, the third meeting on... humanitarian the aspect of the exchange and return of children, all these

three points will be worked out, and the whole document, i think that we will still do all this and have time for november, there will be this document, this is our task, to make the document as a preparatory point or stage for the summit to the second peace summit. please, bbc ukraine. good day. mr. president, i would like to know whether the operation in kurshchyna really disrupted the energy negotiations in qatar, as the western media reported. and will ukraine continue to insist on these negotiations. and they by the way, they wrote that russia should have been there at these negotiations in order to agree to stop the shelling of energy facilities. absolutely unrelated things. the kurdish operation with... the meeting in qatar, the kurdish operation is not connected with any of the points of the sea formula, but

is the kurdish operation connected with the peace summit, with the second one, yes, because the kurdish operation is one of the points of ukraine's victory plan, i want to be consistent again, i will answer everything, and then we will move on to other points. but just a lot of things are written, and sometimes it doesn't really help that you they said what was written about, why, because these are completely unrelated things, the kursk operation has and had completely different goals, completely different goals than the energy meeting with colleagues, energy is very important, but it is important to finish... and exchange rate operation is one of the stages of this process. it did not fail,

it was conducted in an online format. yes please, ard, germany. thank you. mr. president, the situation in donetsk region is difficult, very difficult for... the country, many people in germany, as well as in ukraine, are not up to finally understand why, under these difficult circumstances, they decided to conduct an operation in kursk region. instead of reinforcing the eastern direction, could you clarify your strategic objectives? thank you. i can, but not everything. people don't understand, some of them don't know, and that's good, otherwise we would n't be able to do anything in the country. therefore, it is very important that a narrow circle of people knew about this operation, and therefore there is success in the operation. and certainly there are

goals that i can say, and definitely there are goals that are very important. which i can't say, the kurdish operation, it's, well, a few things brought, first of all, ah, the occupation of kharkiv region was stopped, and we had information about the creation of buffer zones in kharkiv region, and then in the north, we did not know the specifics, but we understood that sumy region, chernihiv region, this is what might be in the plans, what we received, from our intelligence and from... by the way, intelligence, the intelligence of our partners, regarding the movement of the troops of the russian federation, as it may be, etc., the sequence, the desire of these, let's say, as they called the buffer zones in the kremlin, to us there was an unknown, clear sequence, but we understood that it could

to be, the kurdish operation solved the issue of not occupying sumy oblast and not occupying chernihiv oblast, not only that, it defeated a large number of troops, i don’t know if i communicated today with the commander regarding the number of the enemy, i think i didn’t communicate in detail, well, it’s probably still too early about you say, you defeated a serious group and a large number of troops. as for donetsk region, you must understand that this is their strategic goal, and today the movement after... the kursk operations, by the way, from the kharkiv region and from the zaporizhzhia direction, we have actually already taken place, whether it will continue depends from us, how long we will successfully continue the kurdish operation, and this is a very important moment, and the fact that they are not withdrawing troops from donetsk region yet, of course, their troops are the most prepared there, and this is their

strategic direction, because they really want to occupy ours. .. this goal of donetsk has not changed them since the beginning of the war, i would even say since the great war, since the beginning of the 14th year, these goals were already there, but now these goals have not changed, they are interested in the complete occupation of donbas, ukrainian donbas, it will not work , and we are working on it. kurshchyna, as i told you, is included in ours a plan, a plan to win. of ukraine, maybe it sounds ambitious to someone, but the plan is a very important plan for us, i can say some things, probably something, i am not sure that everything, one of the directions, part of which has already been completed , the second direction is

ukraine's strategic place in the security infrastructure. the third direction is a package of coercion, a powerful package of coercion of russia until the end of the war by diplomatic means, and the fourth direction is economic, i will not talk about all this in detail, the plan has been prepared, i think it is fair, if i present this plan first to the president of the united states, success depends on it. of this plan, we will be given what is in this plan or not, whether we will be free to use what is there in this plan or not, and as everything is delayed a little in life, i think in september will present this plan to him at the meeting, and i think that somehow it would be right

to take this plan to both kamala harris and trump, donald trump, because we don't know. who will be the president of the united states, and i really want to carry out this plan. please. the next question is from rbc ukraine. please. milan lelech, rbc ukraine. mr. president, already after the start of the kurdish operation, you had a lot of contacts with your western colleagues. tell me how they explain to you that there are still some restrictions on the use of western language. on the territory of the russian federation, what arguments do they give you, what red lines are they afraid of, or escalations, etc., thank you, they try not to talk to me about it. and i raise this question, in principle, like this, the olympics passed, pingpunk remained, further, whatever

please, interfax ukraine, thank you for your word, mr. president, in mid-july , the president of azerbaijan announced that the eu had requested assistance in continuing gas transit through ukraine. since then, a lot has changed, our ukrainian troops took control of the gas measuring station in sudja, and the terrorist putin went to baku to negotiate transit, so the question is: what is the current position of ukraine regarding gas transit in the 24th year and its continuation in the 25th th year thank you. no one will continue the contract with russia, why is there a full stop? as for transit. and gas from other companies, if it continues, you are right here, the request of some of our european colleagues will continue, we are all in the european union, we will consider their request, what

the old grandfather in azerbaijan talked about, i do not know, i am not sure what about gas , i think there are other questions and here next door cnn please front row center good afternoon sir. i will ask my question in english, you have now received new military aid from the us, the f-16, and you have new recruits at the front, but the situation is nevertheless extremely difficult. and some of the western partners are worried about whether you can really do it militarily. to win this war, so my question is, is there some way, a plan, maybe a strategy, maybe,

taking into account the negotiating points, maybe giving up part of the territory of ukraine for certain security guarantees, if it will be about the guarantee of nato membership in this case, or were you ready to consider it? thank you for the question, i am not ready to exchange our territories as part of any negotiations, this is the first, it is difficult, really, because this is a decision will really depend on the support of our colleagues, i hope they will work further and faster, the f-16 is a very, very good result, a lot of people talked about it, but... so, as part of this huge missile attack, we shot down some missiles with the help of the 16, and thanks to our partners for

providing us with these f-16s. of course, it won't do, it's enough, we don't have many of them, and we still need to train pilots. we have offers to the usa. it actually depends on their permission. they have to look at it positively and realistically. because we are talking about our territories, not about american right? that's the thing about the new package, i'm very grateful, i spoke with president biden, he announced this new package, thank you, there's a little problem here that we'll have to secure this package after biden. okay, there are big bosses in the world on this planet, we are small, but we have to be brave in our fight against russian attacks, that's

what we need, any solution bring here, bring to ukraine, thank you, sonya, please good afternoon mr president na at the meeting of the ambassadors a few days ago, there was a proposal to create the so-called ministry of unity, and i know that this proposal is now. i’ll just skip the name, and there, there are still options for working with the diaspora, somehow, the ministry of unity, i know what this idea is, thank you for the suggestions, it’s not mine, it’s dmytro kulebba’s, you know about it, don’t you, tell me , please, i don’t know everything about dmytro kulebl, isn’t he the one who suggested it to you? sorry, well, please tell me about this offer, because really. in continuation, sorry, there was also information that you allegedly turned to western partners with a request to facilitate the return of men

of draft age to ukraine, and allegedly yes. first of all , i think that the forces of the ministry of foreign affairs will not be enough not to lose 7.5 million ukrainians, i discussed this idea precisely without dmytro kuleba, but with the prime minister of ukraine. because this is about the government, and he is the head of our government, and we talked about this issue, that it is a very difficult mission for any ministry, i this is not about people, not about an individual, and even i am talking about the institutionality of this process, no one had such a challenge as returning 7.5 million people, i spoke about it, there was a minister of finance, what they showed, what he showed 10 .8 million pensioners, if we...

do not return 7.5 and if we do not bring all taxpayers to the wall, we have a serious challenge after the war, not only during the war, and after the war, how to do it, how to feed our pensioners, that's right, and they deserved it, worthy, worthy, i'm afraid to offend old age, worthy, worthy years without work, yes, a decent rest, let's say yes, yes, and therefore... we need to return the adult population to ukraine, we need to return our children, students, etc., without coercion to make all the conditions for them to want to do it, we need to communicate with them, i know , that there is a percentage of people who simply cannot find a job, here you are an example, one of the topics that this ministry should deal with is to provide work in... the country,

the ministry of foreign affairs does not deal with this in its content, but in addition all other services to be processed by consulates, embassies are untenable today, there are a lot of people, besides this there is also the issue of approaching people, when, for example, unfortunately, a woman with a child left, and a soldier, her husband died here and... she, she has been there for a long time, here , the media is no longer here, unfortunately, and she already sees her life in another world, at another job, in another company, you understand, yes, and that is why we need to work a lot with these people, help, not to lose this chain between ukraine and ukrainians, there are many such challenges, i am not talking about the very complex influence due to

agents, through the russian church on our people there, well, it’s simple, well, realistically, today it’s such an influx and it’s very complicated, people are being intercepted, people’s thinking is being changed, as in the temporarily occupied territories, the approach to this, who is the enemy in this war, already thank god that most people are like that, they understand everything, read deeply, study all this... information, they are, after all, very strongly on the side of ukraine, they are ukrainians, but there are people who change their approach to this, we need to work with them daily, institutionally, so i think this ministry is very important, me addressed this idea to the prime minister, we talked about this idea, how it can be expanded, already, first of all, it concerns poland and germany, where most of our... and i

believe that today we need to develop policies for this institution and to make this decision in the fall, in the fall, and for the men, as for the men for the return, which is roughly how, as you said, some media write, you understand, politically, it is not very profitable within certain states to say that we are from ... we send ukrainians home, and it is very expensive for us to support them, it is easier to raise this issue at a meeting with the president of ukraine, and then say that the president requested the return of the ukrainians, after all, i am only in favor if the ukrainians